Bungie

I have a confession to make: I’ve known about the Destiny Alpha for a few months now. Let’s say a friend managed to get a code and under the strictest of secrets, he downloaded it. What I saw at first didn’t impress me. There wasn’t much content. There were just interesting concepts. I saw people trying to drive their hover bikes up a dirt ramp and people engaging in missions that I didn’t have the backstory to. But that’s quickly accelerated into something special over the past few weeks.

I was checking out the beta myself and discovered that the world had fleshed out a bit. Random people helped me out and went on their way. At E3 2014, Bungie offered more details about the Destiny universe, and suddenly, like an epiphany, I realized the scope the creators of Halo were working with. An entity called the Traveler, which was discovered on Mars ignited a golden age of humanity as people started colonizing the solar system. That all ended as beings called the Forsaken attacked, interrupted a thriving civilization and made it wilt.

Destiny puts players in the role of guardians, who still have the light of the Traveler, and they have to defend humanity’s last city against this alien force. The premise puts players at the center of the narrative and gives purpose to the missions I was seeing and playing.Continue Reading →

It pretty much had to be this way. The two creative forces that shaped console shooters are coming back with new franchises. In one corner, we have Bungie, which created the hugely successful Halo series, and on the other, we have Respawn Entertainment, lead by the minds that brought fans Call of Duty.

Both developers have a vision about what a next-gen shooter should be. First, let’s get what they have in common out of the way. Players on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 can expect shooters that blend multiplayer and single-player elements. Call it “mingle” or “smultiplayer” but whatever you name it, the games of the future won’t have distinct modes anymore. They’ll be part of a cohesive whole.

But the big question is Who carves out that concept? Which studio will have the multiplayer-singleplayer model that others adopt. Respawn and Bungie have different philosophies on the matter.

The true test for any game is how it holds up over time. Some games such as Super Mario Bros. play just as well today as it did 26 years ago because its core gameplay doesn’t rely on gorgeous graphics or trendy gimmicks. It’s pure and essential.

Entering its 10th anniversary, can the same be said for Halo: Combat Evolved? I returned to the campaign at an even a few weeks ago. I had a chance to play the Anniversary edition developed by 343 Industries. The redone version features high-definition graphics and a remastered soundtrack recorded at SkyWalker Sound. It includes achievements and naturally hidden skulls.

The studio calls it a birthday present for Master Chief. Going back, everything was familiar and new to me. I kept on switching back and forth between 2001 graphics and 2011 ones. The game lets you do that by pressing the back button. I had no trouble navigating the Pillar of Autumn or the Halo itself. There’s a lot of memories tied every corner, every hallway, every rock and tree of the first few levels, but at the same time, the game shows its age despite the new coat of paint.

Halo: Reachis less than a week away, and I’m sure the Bungie faithful are champing at the bit to get their hands on it. Last month, I went to a preview event and played through the campaign and multiplayer. I’ll have a review out on Sunday, but in the meantime, here are five things worth noting about what’s likely Bungie’s last entry to the Halo universe.

1. The world of Reach feels infinitely more alive and more beautiful than Halo 3: ODST. Author Nicholson Baker put it best in his New Yorker piece, describing New Mombasa, Africa, as “a dim, cast-concrete parking garage but with grand staircases.” That’s one of the things that bugged me about last year’s game. It seemed so deserted and dead, almost like a city-sized sepulchre. On the other hand, Reach is immediately alive when you first see it. The planet has mountains so tall they rise above the cloud cover and are visible from space as giant earth spikes protruding from the surface.

Going in deeper, I discovered a lush environment that’s more detailed with all manner of flora and fauna. Bungie stepped up its game in the graphics and detail department, capturing everything from living spaces to the dials on a Warthog. What’s even better is that people — civilian and military — inhabit the places I visited. They are part of the set pieces in each level. But perhaps the crowning touch is the wildlife. I knew that the developers captured Reach perfectly when I saw what I assume to be a farm-raised ostrich creature running away from me. It was all gangly like a deer and all I wanted to do was aim my shiny new car at it and turn the thing to roadkill. (Unfortunately, I missed but I did end up getting out of the car and meleeing the thing to death.)

The countdown timer has reached zero, and with it, Bungie sort of unveils its next project. And when I mean sort of, I mean they released a teaser trailer that shows a meteorite object of ominous doom falling to Earth. It was one of many to puncture our atmosphere. What was interesting though was that there wasn’t that apocalyptic, end-of-the-dinosaurs blast.